Periodically ion chromatography is used for transition metals and speciation analysis

[The_Ion_Lady]

There are times when I get asked how to get rid of transition metal contamination for IC analysis but there are times when I get asked how they can analysis the transition metals!

Well, there are different ways to do this depending on the levels, the sample matrices and species.

Metal ions can exist in several different forms. The factors that determine the form of the metal ion are the extent of complexation and the oxidation state.

Here is a start with Technical Note 10 (iron (II), copper, nickel, zinc, cobalt, cadmium, manganese, iron(III), lead), where they are post-columned online and can speciate some:

Determination of transition metals by ion chromatography 

Of course, to have more speciation and sensitivity, IC-ICP-MS is more efficient and able to distinguish chemical and elemental species. Here is some methods for IC-ICP-MS speciation ( arsenic, chromium, mercury and some non-transition metals like bromine and iodine):

Speciation Applications Summary Ion Chromatography 

 Zinc, is still my favorite element with lots of good health properties and is in a transition metal group with very toxic ones!